A positive Red Wings-pre-pre-season preview? I'll take it.

From the usual scuttlebutt involving hockey publications' pundits hinting at their "shocking" season preview predictions as they cobble together said be-all-end-all articles--usually in late July--it appears that the media at large will suggest that the Red Wings' injury-induced struggle to make the playoffs is the team's "new normal." The Wings, they will insist, are no longer an elite team, but instead a fifth-to-eighth place playoff poseur.

Bearing that in mind, Pro Hockey Talk's James O'Brien offered a preliminary take on the Western Conference that's downright flattering:

The two most interesting teams might be the Canucks and Red Wings.
Vancouver got whooped by Chicago in the playoffs - really, they fell
apart - but they still have some interesting elements. Adding Dan
Hamhuis and Keith Ballard to a defense that might have been their
biggest weakness last year might make them the best in the West. But
don't forget about the Red Wings, either, a team who became the league's
hottest club once their injury-ravaged squad actually came together.

Um, thank you for not totally discounting the Wings' status as a contender whose return to health, addition of Jiri Hudler and some actual roster continuity will likely equal a rebound of Central Division title-contenting proportions?